


looking at you, looking right back

by pirateygoodness



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 20:38:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12240234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pirateygoodness/pseuds/pirateygoodness
Summary: It's been weeks of this, damage control with PR and back and forth with the heads of each of her scientific divisions. For some reason,the CEO's mother tried to divert company resources to murder all the aliens in National Cityisn't the most palatable headline for the annual report. Lena's been working late nights for a while, but lately she's taken to eating dinner in her office and keeping a spare change of clothes in her filing cabinet, just in case she happens to fall asleep while working.





	looking at you, looking right back

Spreadsheets. There are fourteen different spreadsheets open simultaneously on Lena's laptop, and those are just the ones that she can work on this week. The L Corp shareholders meeting is in a month and _already_ Lena's feeling it, the pressure to take her company's hard work and package it into something _important_ , _profitable_ , _an exciting investment opportunity._

If she gets one more suggestion to edit real words out of her report to put in useless corporate jargon, her head's going to explode. 

It's been weeks of this, damage control with PR and back and forth with the heads of each of her scientific divisions. For some reason, _the CEO's mother tried to divert company resources to murder all the aliens in National City_ isn't the most palatable headline for the annual report. Lena's been working late nights for a while, but lately she's taken to eating dinner in her office and keeping a spare change of clothes in her filing cabinet, just in case she happens to fall asleep while working. 

She's feeling that now, her eyes blurring a little as she stares at the screen, numbers seeming to dance between columns. She shakes her head, trying to will her eyes to keeping going for just a little longer, just until she can finish the section about the engineering department - at least the work that didn't involve having company resources co-opted by a Daxamite queen who half-seduced the CEO and threatened to obliterate the planet. 

Lena just needs - something. A break, she's heard breaks are nice. Her eyes grow heavy, and it's not like resting them for a few minutes would hurt, at this point. 

+

Lena wakes to the sun streaming into her office, so bright that it's almost painful. Kara Danvers is sitting on the coffee table beside her, the light glinting off her hair like a halo. Lena squints, a compromise between the sunlight urging her awake and her body's near-overpowering desire to continue sleeping. 

"Hey," Kara says. She's using the gentlest tone, her voice as soft and sweet as if they were in Lena's apartment - Lena in a proper bed, where normal people tend to sleep. "I didn't want to intrude, I just, um. I thought you'd be more awake." 

Lena groans. Her neck and back are stiff, from too many hours hunched over her laptop and too many nights this week sleeping on her couch. It takes her a few moments to find the energy to sit, to start rubbing out the tension in her shoulders. Her arm is half-numb from being slept on and there's a lipstick stain on her blouse from her mouth smushed against her sleeve, plum-red against pink silk. She winces, mostly over the shirt. "What time is it?" Lena asks. 

Kara makes a show of checking her watch, looking away to give Lena some privacy. As though she's embarrassed to see Lena in this state, disastrously rumpled and exhausted. "Ten to eight," she says into her lap. "I brought donuts." 

Lena can't help but smile. "What's the occasion." 

Kara smiles shyly, the softest blush colouring her cheeks. "I, um - _Supergirl_ was talking to me last night, and she said you've been working a lot of late nights. I thought you might want a little pick-me-up." 

It's sweet. So sweet that she can almost ignore the fact of Supergirl checking up on her. It's the most logical choice - if Lena were Supergirl, she'd make a point of keeping an eye on L-Corp after the events of this past year. "You didn't have to," Lena says. 

Kara shakes her head. Somehow Lena's self-deprecation always makes her more insistent. "I absolutely did. You're sleeping at work, you deserve coffee and donuts as a bare minimum." 

She lifts up a bag, already grease-stained. Lena breathes in and smells sugar and fat and coffee, and it suddenly occurs to her that she hasn't eaten a thing since yesterday at lunchtime. Kara hands her the coffee first. Lena curls around it, pressing both her palms to the side of the cup and letting them warm her. 

Kara reaches up, brushes hair out of Lena's face. She must look a _mess_ , the bun she managed yesterday morning feels half-undone. Ordinarily she'd fuss over it, but her vanity is still half-asleep with the rest of her. Kara's touch is the softest, tenderest thing Lena's experienced in days and it's all she can do to keep herself from shivering. 

She drinks the first few sips of coffee while Kara makes a show of choosing donuts - lemon curd for Kara and cream with chocolate icing for Lena. There are no redeeming nutrients, as much as Kara insists that she's getting fruit and Lena's getting calcium, but somehow it still feels like exactly the right balance of sugary food and kindness. 

"I must look like a mess," Lena says, after she's eaten and drunk enough to feel somewhat human. "It's been ages since I fell asleep at work like that." 

This is a lie; she's done it twice this month already. But Kara just smiles, gives Lena that beatific look of concern, the one that makes Lena feel warm and safe from head to toe. "Is there anything else I can do? Aside from more donuts, obviously." 

Lena half-shakes her head. She's thinking about changing into her spare work clothes, getting ready for the meeting she's got scheduled at eleven, when she realizes that she's already _wearing_ that set. "I think maybe the best thing for me to do is go home, and maybe find some clothes that don't look like I've been wearing them for the past week." 

Kara nods, as if that was a request. "That, I can do," she says. 

Lena doesn't want to be emotional. She doesn't want to feel helplessly, pitifully grateful for the kindness of her friend, but she wants the company, the time to do something besides work, too badly. "You're a good friend," she whispers, reaching for a blazer to hide her lipstick-stained sleeve, smoothing donut crumbs off of her skirt. 

Kara pulls her into a hug, and presses a lipgloss kiss to the top of Lena's head. Her breath is warm and her arm is so strong against Lena that she can't help but melt. "You deserve it," Kara whispers. 

For a moment, Lena truly feels like she does.


End file.
